The City of the Night
by Kitt Chaos
Summary: With his dead love in his arms, Meier risks everything to find a fabled civilization he barely dares to believe exists.
1. Default Chapter

**City of the Night - Prologue**

    Her world was, quite literally, falling down around her.

    Her father had been crushed under the weight of a wall. The columns supporting the soaring ceiling buckled and crumpled under the quaking as the castle that was her home shook to its deep-rooted foundations. The cries and screams around her mingled fear, terror and agony. Many voices stilled suddenly into silence as massive piece of the stone ceiling slammed down, instantly crushing and killing those too slow to get out of the way.

    Having already turned her back on the only method of survival, embracing the totality of who she was and forsaking salvation, she looked up. The rough rock face in front of her mocked her, reminding her of her father's death, pinned to and crushed under the weight of the worked surface of the wall when it fell. An odd counterpoint was the as yet undamaged wall directly to the left. That wall, as if blessed in some way, still bore the portrait whose visage often comforted her. Ignoring the chaos around her, she walked with slow, steady steps to stand in front of the portrait.

    There was something noble about the painted image. It appeared to be a man, seated on a heavy, throne-like chair. He was sitting almost sideways on the seat of the chair, in a nearly casual, yet still poised way, with both hands folded across the arm of the chair.

    "Ruffles and roses," she thought to herself. A sad smile crossed her face at the thought. It had been her very first thought upon seeing the image for the first time. It seemed appropriate that it would also be one of her last.

    She had loved her father, despite his dissipative flaws. She recognized that he had been cruel, but that cruelty had never been leveled at her. In fact, he'd kept a secret from her, an important secret, as a sort of kindness. The secret her father had kept allowed her to remain ignorant of her own origins and thus happy in the world she lived in. It was a world full of random cruelties, but the secret allowed her to be one of those wielding the stick instead of one of those struck by it.

    She wondered about the man whose image graced the portrait. Was he also cruel, as her father had been? Or was he instead, gentle -- like the one who had tried to save her?

    "He won't let anyone helpless be killed..." A woman's light voice floated to the top of the jetsam of her thoughts.

    "Are you cruel, like my father; or gentle, like your son?" she cried aloud to the portrait on the wall. Tears streamed down her face. "Ancient god, what should I do?"

    As if a sort of macabre answer, the portrait finally shook loose in the mystic quake destroying the castle and plummeted toward her. In a moment of perfect clarity, her final moment of life and awareness, her final moment of being before "going back into the darkness" she couldn't help but admire one last time the beauty of the man whose massive portrait would now crush the life from her.

    "Ruffles and roses..."

    The portrait, along with a sizable chunk of the wall it had been hung upon, smashed to the ground and shattered into thousands of pieces.

----------

    "Have you heard?!"

    "A ship..."

    "A ship?! Coming here?"

    "It's been so long..."

    "I thought they were all destroyed..."

    "It's a wonder it can fly!"

    The congregation of the shadowed market square paused in their buying, selling and trading as the news ran like wildfire through all their conversations. A ship, such as many of them had used to come here, had been sighted. Such a thing had not happened for so long, and it was such an exciting occurrence that it co-opted all other topics.

    During the two days it took the ship to approach it became the most newsworthy event. Telescopes and other sky-watching instruments were pointed toward the ship constantly while those who watched ventured to guess who might be on it. There was a very real chance they would never know; the course was far from steady -- the ship wobbled and veered as if guided by a drunkard. Wagers were placed as to whether it would wander irretrievably off-course, burn up in the atmosphere or crash and spill its likely inhabitants as broken dolls across their bleak landscape.

    All the wagers were wrong. The ship, though quite unsteadily, kept to its course, survived the entry through the atmosphere and crash-_landed_ on the surface.

    While the first group was still making their way to the crash site, the door of the craft opened. A single being, a man from the looks of it, stood in the doorway, holding a woman in his arms. He stepped out, took three steps, and collapsed, turning as he did, so that he fell under the woman, protecting her from the fall.

    The first one to the man's side made a discovery; the being in front of him, though he appeared to be a man, was a vampire.

----------------------   
Author's Notes -

Next chapter teaser - Chapter One - The Way of Things

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!

stargarde (at) stargarde (dot) com


	2. The Way of Things

**Chapter One - The Way of Things**

"Welcome to the Darkness."

"Pardon?"

"Or the City of the Night, whichever you prefer. 'It is the destiny of a transient visitor to go back to the darkness'. For so many that means the darkness of true death. For others, it means a life here, in the City of the Night, where vampires still rule."

"Vampires -- rule here?" Meier repeated, as he sat up. He had been sleeping, apparently, upon what he had to admit was a very comfortable bed.

"Yes, though humans still have their place. I've been charged with explaining how it works to you."

Though he had never laid eyes upon her before, something seemed familiar about the girl, no, woman, seated before him. Charlotte had moved with the impetuous grace of a human, one of the many characteristics that had endeared her to him. This woman carried herself with the languid grace of one who knew that days would never touch her -- an immortal. Still, she did not quite seem...

"You -- you are a dhampir," Meier stated, interrupting her.

The woman's voice stopped abruptly. Her eyes widened in dismayed surprise.

"Forgive me. That was rude," Meier admitted. "Why should there not be dhampirs here, where humans and vampires live side by side?"

"It, it is not as you suppose. I am the only one," the woman responded in a low, nearly-forlorn tone. "But, how could you tell? Even now, not many know, and only one other could tell at first sight," she marveled.

Meier chuckled ruefully, rubbing his left shoulder. The wound D had given him had healed, still, if he thought about it -- it was as if he could still feel the steel slipping in between the muscles and piercing him through.

"I had recently been near a dhampir. I could see -- a similarity between you." Needing to move to break his sudden melancholy, Meier stood and paced toward the wall.

"Forgive me," he asked again. "Please, let us start our conversation anew. Lady, what is your name?"

A sad laugh preceded her answer. "Here, I am not a lady. I am merely one who serves my lord. My name is Ramica."

"Well, Lady Ramica," Meier inscribed a respectful bow and matched her name with a title despite her words. "I am pleased to meet you. I am Meier Link."

He turned, wondering idly what sort of "grace" was reflected in his actions, and seated himself in the other chair in the room.

"I will stop rudely interrupting you and heed your explanations carefully."

--------

"How extraordinary!" Meier thought. Ramica had left nearly an hour before, but Meier was still mulling over all she had told him. Truly, the City of the Night was perfect paradise for vampires.

The inhabitants of the City were predictably divided into two groups, vampires and humans, but the fundamental relationship between the groups was not like anything he had ever imagined.

Ramica had told him that even though they were far fewer in number than the humans, the vampires were the top of the aristocracy. At any given time, since the human population was forever in a state of flux, the ratio was a thousand to one, humans to vampires, yet the humans did not seem to feel "oppressed" or consumed by an urge to rise up and defeat the vampires.

Part of it was the control exerted over the vampires' behavior by their ruler. They were not permitted to do whatever they pleased to a hapless human population. There were rules and from what Ramica told him, they were followed on pain of their lord's extreme displeasure.

Each vampiric holding had a number of human tribute families associated with it. Meier seemed to recall something similar in ancient history. A tribute family was required to send one of its own, once a decade, to their vampire lord's estate. Ramica told him that the tribute families were vast, with many branches sharing the same family name, so such a loss, one person a decade, was not enough to harm the integrity of the family. In one case where it was judged the family had dwindled too much due to an illness, and the viability had slipped dangerously, that entire family was freed of the responsibility to tribute for a century, in the hopes that it could recover.

"So -- the humans are husbanded wisely?" Meier noted cynically.

"There is that," Ramica agreed, easily understanding his reference to treating the humans as humans treated their livestock.

"But, our lord also feels that it is necessary that the humans who belong to tribute families also know that we respect them. It is true that some of them are our food, yet, unlike animals, humans are not simply dumb beasts. Vampires who wish to stay in the lord's good graces remember that."

Meier had asked about those who were selected to become food, the "tribute humans" -- what became of them?

"It varies from house to house. In our lord's house, they are treated with dignity, permitted, even urged to follow pursuits of their own. Our lord does not permit any one of them to be drunk too deeply. If a human of our household falls ill, he or she is taken care of until they recover. Of course, the inevitable happens, at the end of the human's span, but all tribute humans who die in our house die of old age."

Ramica seemed to struggle with herself. "I have seen -- my lord weep, when one of his human friends dies."

She locked gazes with Meier, silently defying him to think her lord was weak. Still holding feelings of love for Charlotte in his heart, Meier was not about to think that. What was that saying? He who lives in a glass house best not cast stones?

"There are other houses where the respect is not quite as high, of course. I don't believe tribute humans are abused intentionally, since they are valuable, but they do not seem as free as the ones in our house."

Meier wondered how he would have treated "tribute humans" if he had lived here before falling in love with Charlotte.

"And there are rumors of a house that treat their tributes so poorly that they die, drained far too early and cast aside. I have heard whispers that the house is trying to trade for tributes from another house. I am certain our lord will not stand for this."

"It seems people, whether they are human or vampire, will manage to run the full spectrum of behaviour. Your lord on the one hand, and this wastrel house on the other." It was Meier's turn to hesitate. "I rather think your lord's way of doing things is the best way."

Meier recalled the bounty hunters sent after him to bring Charlotte back to her father and brother. They would never have made a good tribute family! "I wonder how the families select one of their own to serve as a tribute?" he wondered aloud.

Surprisingly, Ramica answered him. "Again, it varies. In some houses, the best of that decade is sent as the tribute. In others, it is the highest punishment for a transgression. Still others refuse to select, leaving it to a lottery, or permitting the vampire to select his or her choice from their family."

Meier sighed and stood to pace his room again. Learning about the quite different interactions between vampires and humans here had piqued his interest briefly, but nothing could draw his mind away from the pain of his loss for very long.

He had hoped to have a life with Charlotte here. He had resolved that no matter how difficult it would have been, he never would have bitten Charlotte -- never would have changed her. He loved her with a passion so deep it scared him. Still he loved her. The fact that she was dead didn't stop his powerful love.

He wished they had more time. Not only for him, for he knew that if he kept his promise his time with Charlotte would be all too brief when placed against the march of his years; but also for her. She'd known such little freedom in her short life. Meier was certain that her father and brother had loved her, in their shallow, human way, given how fiercely they had tried to get her back. But they had hemmed her life in so sharply before that. Meier grudgingly realized that Charlotte's father and brother had realized what a prize Charlotte was. That was why they were not willing to let her go easily.

Struck by a sudden thought, Meier bolted from his chair. He couldn't believe it had taken him this long to wonder.

"Where?! Where is she?!"

He looked about wildly, and not seeing Charlotte anywhere in the small, though elegant room, seized the doorknob, turned and dashed into the hall.

-----------------------  
Author's notes -

I am going to have to go back and rework this chapter. It's far too sparse! I need to add some descriptions of the room, and Ramica. Oh, and somehow to naturally work it in that once a tribute human is taken from his or her family, that person is never seen by the family again.

Next chapter teaser - Chapter Two - The Vampire King (Oh, he just had to have a chapter all to Himself!)

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!

stargarde (at) stargarde (dot) com


	3. Dark Adapted Eyes

**Chapter Two - Dark-Adapted Eyes**

She sat in her favorite place and gazed down at the castle grounds. Most days she could be found here, though it was a forbidding and desolate spot, trying to catch a glimpse of the one she loved. Though he spurned her, her heart remained true, loving him despite the upheaval he'd caused in her life.

She was City-bred, her large-pupiled eyes giving that fact away at first glance. Hers were eyes that had never seen the sun. No, the changeable nature of humans, slowly refining its genetic code over generations, had given her eyes more suited for her world. Starlight was bright enough for her. The dusky greys of twilight had become her rainbow. Dim and subtle coloring was pleasing to her dark-adapted eyes.

So, though it was full night, she was still able to sit on her nearly barren hilltop, nestled between the craggy rock nearly at thecrest and the lone tree defiant enough to still grow there. The wind blew briskly enough that she huddled deeper into her shawl and curled up closer to the rock. Despite the discomfort, the castle grounds never failed to hold her rapt attention and hungry gaze. For even a glimpse of him, she'd stay out here the entire night.

Tall. Her first impression of him in the flesh had been that he was tall. And presence. His presence was an aura that announced his arrival before she actually laid eyes on him. Dwelling on her thoughts of him, she slid half-protestingly, half-willingly into the reverie of her memory.

--------

Long had she waited for this day, preparing her entire life for it. Her mother and father had groomed her carefully from the time she was an infant for her fate. Every aspect of her life had been tailored with painstaking care for the duty and honor of her destiny, for she was the gift of her house. She was the first child born in her tribute generation. When her birth was announced, a physician from the manor proper had come, to examine her for her suitability to become the tribute. She was flawless, no defect in her genetics to upset the special tastes and needs of her future masters.

Thus, her parents, knowing her destiny, guarded her carefully from harm, feeding her only the prescribed diet mandated by the castle for those destined for tribute, and lavishing her with their love.

_"Why, momma? Why can't I go out and play with the other children?"_

_"The play might become too rough and you might be hurt. I'm sorry, sweetheart, but stay here with me. I can teach you how to..."_

_---_

_"It would be too dangerous for you to learn to ride a horse. Let's work on your painting..."_

_---_

_"There's no reason for you to go to the dance. You won't be needing to find a husband like the other girls. Besides, you are so beautiful, they boys would be too distracted!"_

_---_

She had known her destiny was to, on her 20th birthday, stand outside the entrance of her family's modest manor and wait for her lord's emissary. The emissary would come, perform the Ceremony of Tribute with her, and take her away. She would never see her family again. Her parents weren't able to tell her if she would ever see another human again. They couldn't tell her anything at all about what would happen after the ceremony, except that she brought great honor to her family name, and it was a great honor for her to be selected as a tribute.

Of course, she'd heard the rumors. She even knew something of the truth. In her family, it was not permitted to withhold what they knew from the destined. She knew that her purpose as the tribute of her family was to appease the vampire lords. Vampires needed human blood to live. Without the fated tributes from each family, the vampires would be forced to take humans randomly, against those humans' wills, in order to survive. Since the vampires were not cruel to the humans who shared the City of the Night with them, the tribute system had been agreed to as the method by which the vampires could gain the human blood they needed.

She'd thought, when she was ten, that it was romantic. Her family house's tribute, taken to the vampire's house the year she was ten, had been a handsome man of twenty. He'd stood at the top step of the castle, dressed all in white, waiting for the carriage from the vampire's castle to come. It had arrived at the appointed time, drawn by two black, demonic-seeming horses. It seemed as though every breath was held as the door opened and a beautiful vampire woman stepped out. Wearing the slightest serene smile on her face, she walked -- never too fast, never too slow, up the castle steps to take the tribute's hand.

_"Everon," the vampire woman said his name._

_"Yes!" Everon acted surprised that she had known it._

_"You have been offered to us as your family's tribute. Do you accept this destiny of your own free will?"_

_"I... I do."_

_"You know that you will never see your family again?"_

_Everon nodded._

_"Please, answer aloud," the vampire woman requested mildly. _

_"Yes, I know."_

_"Still, will you honor the ancient pact between your family and ours, to leave here with me as the tribute from your family to mine?"_

_"Yes."_

_"You have said your good-byes?"_

_Everon turned to look at the part of the extensive family permitted to watch and hear the Tribute Ceremony. His parents were there, of course, and were his brothers and sister. The head of the family watched too. His cousin, the next tribute, and her immediate family were there also, to witness, even as he'd witnessed the tribute before his, so that their turn at the tribute might be easier. Everon seemed a bit sad, looking one final time at his parents and siblings. His little sister was crying._

_"Don't cry, Sarah. I'm just going to go and live with this nice lady's family now, since I'm all grown up, okay?" Everon broke the pattern of the ceremony to call out to his little sister. The next oldest boy leaned down and swung his sister into his arms. He whispered something in her ear and she ran her sleeve across her eyes to dry them._

_"Jesse told me this is a happy day for you, and not to spoil it by crying," Sarah called out in a wavery voice. _

_"You be happy in your new home!" Sarah smiled even though a tear slipped free and rolled down her cheek. Everon swallowed hard, looking one last time at his family before nodding firmly to his father and turning back toward the waiting vampire woman._

_"Let's go," he said simply._

_She smiled at him, a warm and tender smile, before reaching down to pick up his hand._

_"They will be all right," she promised as she started back down the steps to the waiting carriage. When they got there, the door opened on its own. Everon assisted the vampire woman up the step, and then, without turning back, entered the carriage himself. It drove off. His name was added to the book of tributes, along with the name of the vampire who'd come to claim him -- Isolde. Then, the excitement died down. _

At twelve, she had thought it wasn't fair. At fourteen, she'd tried to run away from home, to escape her fate. By the time she was eighteen, she had accepted it, realizing that her sacrifice would make it so the vampire family she was tributed to wouldn't have to find someone else, someone less prepared than she was. She didn't want a vampire, driven mad with hunger, to strike anyone else in her vast, extended family. She was the first of forty-two children born in that tribute year. If something happened to her, another would be selected to take her place. At least she had been raised knowing her destiny. She'd been raised to be pleasing to a vampire. If she were gone when the time of tribute arrived, and the vampire didn't like the alternate, how many of her cousins would be taken before he was satisfied?

No, she'd resolved by the time she was twenty to accept her fate and the bitter honor of being her family's tribute.

She'd been arrayed in white on her Tribute Day. White roses were twined into her dark hair. Her lacy, floaty, pure white dress had been lovingly made by her mother.

"It is a good vampire house," her father had whispered as he hugged her tight one final time. "I know you've heard the rumors, but there is honor there, in that vampire family, too. We will never see you again, but I'm certain... I'm certain..."

"_We_ are certain you will just live there, hidden away, that's all," her mother finished, reached around her husband to hug her daughter too. "One human, once every ten years, when we know there are several vampires in that house... it doesn't add up. The tributes of previous years must still be there! Just -- hidden away."

She nodded that she understood the comfort her parents were offering her. They didn't think she was going directly into her death. In fact, she might meet other tributes from her family there. That prospect excited her. That she might be "in" on such a big and important secret pleased her.

Still, her heart had thudded and a terrible feeling of dread settled in her soul at the sight of two black, demonic-appearing horses pulling a carriage up to the castle steps. It was almost as though she could feel the -- well, the spirit of the vampire who'd come to claim her. That spirit was vast and powerful. She felt almost as though it would devour her even before the vampire made it up the steps to claim her.

The carriage door had opened.

"He's so tall!" she had thought before the vampire's eyes found hers. A depth of warmth she'd never imagined could exist in anyone's eyes met hers. It had flashed across her mind then, as she recalled Everon's tribute, that the vampire castle was very smart. They sent one of the opposite gender of the tribute to claim it. She'd been too naive at ten to recognize it, but recalling it now, they had been something of a feeling of courtship about it all. Everon had even worn white as she did, almost as if he were a groom to be married.

And now -- it was her turn. She would have screeched at the coercive and unfair nature of it all, except she'd somehow managed to fall in love with her vampire when he had met her eyes.

He seemed to be taking his time reaching her side, taking each step with an agonizing slowness. Yet, it gave her time to get her heart to stop racing about so she could breathe without fearing she would faint. By the time he reached the top step, she thought she might be able to trust her voice again, to perform her half of the Tribute Ceremony with something close to her normal voice.

There was a gasp behind her. She glanced over to discover the reason for the break in the dignity of the ceremony. The head of the family stared at the vampire with eyes widened by shock.

"You... you...!"

Smiling faintly, the vampire ignored the head of her family and reached forward to take her hand. A thrill shot through her at his soft touch.

"Samantha?" the vampire's velvet voice caressed her name.

"Yes?" Samantha wasn't surprised that he had known it. She wouldn't be surprised if he already knew everything about her.

"You have been offered to us as your family's tribute. Do you accept this destiny of your own free will?"

"I do." Samantha nodded firmly, happy that she'd fought her way to accepting her fate and not running from it. She was now certain her fate was much gentler than she had ever hoped it could be.

"You know that you will never see your family again?"

"I know." The answer seemed too short to her somehow.

"Still, will you honor the ancient pact between your family and ours, to leave here with me as the tribute from your family to mine?"

"Yes, I will!"

"You have said your good-byes?"

Overcome, just the tiniest bit, Samantha couldn't help but turn and look at her parents. Perhaps it was a bit easier for her than it had been for Everon, as she was an only child. She suddenly realized it made things that much harder on her parents. Not that Everon's parents had replaced him with the other children, but surely their presence made it so it wasn't too lonely for them. Her parents had no such distractions.

Her father's smile was sad, but proud. Her mother's bore the same pride and faint sorrow. As one, both nodded. By that, Samantha knew they still wanted her to honor the family's vow. She turned back and straightened her shoulders resolutely.

"I have," Samantha replied. "I'm ready."

Her vampire had smiled down into her eyes, then, he dropped her hand.

"It is not to be. Samantha, you are released from being a tribute. You may remain here, and live out your life with your family."

Tears started in her eyes, as her heart dropped into a deep, dark, abysmal place. He didn't want her!

"My, My Lord Dracula!" The head of the family protested. "In what way is Samantha found lacking? She's been raises since infancy to be pleasing to vampires, fed all the right things! She accepts her fate -- this is unprecedented!"

Dracula! The Vampire King himself! No wonder she'd fallen in love with him so fast... The dark and rich tones of his voice as he explained flowed around her, barely making a dent in her despair. How had she failed? What was wrong that he didn't want her? Each word he spoke, each glance at his face, or hands, admiring the grace of his gestures, and the waves in his hair as he brushed it back from his face, served only to wind Samantha deeper into a hopeless love for him. Never in all her nightmare imaginings of this day did she ever consider that she might be rejected. Such had never happened before.

The shocked response of her family died down. Trapped in a helpless numbness, the only thing that registered properly was when Lord Dracula had reached for her hand again, lifted it to his lips, and kissed the back of it.

"Live well," he had commanded, before walking away (_Away!_) from her, down the steps, into his waiting carriage, and out of her life.

Her parents' arms had wrapped around her then, tears of joyful relief on their faces. It wasn't until later that Samantha understood why Lord Dracula had left her that day. While she had been locked in her stunned numbness, the Lord of All Vampires explained to the head of her family that they had enough tribute humans for the time being. That taking another one would actually be a hardship on his house, for he made it a point to have a personal and meaningful relationship with each of his bloodmates. That if he took Samantha, she would most likely be rather ignored in his house, and that wasn't something he was willing to do, since once a tribute human entered a vampire's house they were not permitted to leave. Ever.

Her family was happy. Her name was put in the tribute book in a place of singular honor, since Lord Dracula himself never came to claim the tributes to his house personally. Of course, the entry read that she was released from her destiny as a tribute, instead of claimed by him.

--------

"And so, five years later, with no honor and no destiny, I haunt the hillside that overlooks the castle that rejected me," Samantha thought to herself. Still, she couldn't bring herself to hate Lord Dracula. It had been a brief meeting, but still, his presence was burned so deeply in her heart that she couldn't blame him. She just wished that she'd been -- good enough -- for him.

Half a sob escaped her to be torn away by the wind. A moment later rough hands grabbed her and hauled her out from her spot between the rock and the tree. A blow to her head summoned darkness before she could even scream.

* * *

Author's notes -

:sigh: Did you notice this chapter wasn't "The Vampire King" as promised at the end of Chapter One? The story took on a life of its own and insisted I write a chapter for Samantha. This changes the nature of the story I had intended to write a little, but I think it is for the better. Never fear! Dracula and Meier have their face to face meeting in the next chapter.

Next chapter teaser - Chapter Three - The Vampire King (Oh, he just had to have a chapter all to Himself!)

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!

stargarde (at) stargarde (dot) com


	4. The Vampire King

**Chapter Three - The Vampire King**

He caught himself, outstretched hands absorbing the force of his flight to bring him to a dead stop in front of the bier bearing the body of his dead love.

"Charlotte," he breathed her name as if it were part of a sacred mantra as he reached out and stroked her hair. Or rather, tried to.

He could touch it, but the strands refused to move. His hand felt odd too, as if a sort of current ran through it when he touched Charlotte.

"A stasis field?" He asked aloud. "But why?"

"To give you time," a deeply resonant voice answered from the doorway. "We had no idea how long you would sleep after your journey here, and we didn't want you to wake up only to find she had begun to decay."

Meier wheeled about to see who had entered the room behind him.

Presence. This vampire approaching emanated a presence so intolerably weighty that Meier almost felt as if he should bow. He looked into the newcomer's eyes, instinctively seeking the strength of this potential opponent there.

The power slumbering in that gaze stunned him. Vampires became more powerful as the years unfolded around them. The power in the vampire facing him now was such that all the power of all the vampires he ever met combined into one would not begin to approach the nearly divine might...

"My, my lord?" Meier did bow at that, finally recognizing, though he'd never seen him before, "the ancient god" standing before him -- Dracula, the Lord of All Vampires.

"Excellent. Obviously you are not a thuggish excuse for a vampire with no sense of refinement or place," Dracula noted. "Rise. There is no need to bow before me. Such affectations ceased to matter here centuries ago."

Meier straightened and wondered desperately what he was supposed to do. How he was supposed to behave. His wandering gaze fell upon Charlotte's body again, and the emotions that swept over him -- guilt, remorse, grief, regret -- washed away even his concern that the Lord of All Vampires might find him weak and lacking.

"Charlotte," her name, his mantra of sorrow, forced itself past his lips again.

"She's not going to quicken. She was killed, not brought over," Dracula stated, absently stroking his hand through her hair. For him even the stasis field parted, permitting the silk of her hair to twine about the Master Vampire's fingers.

"I know." Two syllables, the import of which brought him immeasurable pain. Carmilla had taken Charlotte's life, freeing her blood to become the quickening flow of a new un-life for the vampire bitch who had once angered Dracula beyond all reason. Charlotte hadn't been bitten, truly, by a vampire. She had died naturally from blood loss, not supernaturally from a vampire's bite.

"Why bring her here then?"

"I promised her... I promised her I would bring her here, to the City of the Night, so she could be free. I promised her I would bring her to where our love would be understood."

"Love? Honoring a vow to a corpse is an odd way to show love," Dracula mused. "Though, I will allow, she is very beautiful. Tell me, did she have a spirit to match the loveliness of her form? Or was she simply a pretty face and a shallow soul?"

"She was a beautiful flower, inside and out. No, a bud, just beginning to open. I have no idea why she loved me, I just know that she did. Despite the sheltered existence she had always known, she found the courage in her love to leave her home and come with me. I could wish now that I had left her in the shelter of her family, but her spirit..."

Dracula waited patiently.

"Her spirit longed to be free. She wanted to be free to love me. For that chance, we tried, against her family, against the hunters they sent after us, against nature, against Carmilla, against everything to come here -- the place I knew, if it truly existed, we could love each other in freedom."

Meier gazed down into her death-composed face again.

"To honor that courage, I had to bring her here, even if now it is only the empty vessel of her body." He shook his head despairingly. "Forgive me, lord, but you wouldn't understand."

Dracula's cold gaze smote him. "Presume nothing of the sort. I, too, have felt the pull of true love toward a human woman."

Meier looked up in shock, as admitting something like that would create a scandal among vampires. Take a human woman for sport, even as something of a pet for as long as the allure lasted (usually only as long as the human woman remained comely) that was behavior understood among vampires, but love? True love? To claim that one loved a human truly was tantamount to treason on the surface among the remnants of "polite" vampire society.

"You are here, in the City of the Night. Seen by many vampires as paradise." Dracula noted, fussing with the drape of the ruffles at his the cuff of his sleeve.

"Paradise? With the mill of Time grinding out an existence of days in a haze of longing and loss. What pleasure that? An eternity of loneliness."

"Poetic," Dracula noted dryly. "You loved her that much?"

"I _love_ her that much -- and more."

"Hmmm."

Dracula turned abruptly, putting concerns of Charlotte and love aside with his gesture.

"I am dismayed to hear that Carmilla has revived."

Meier would have gaped in his shock at how callous Dracula's actions were, except he reminded himself that such an uncaring attitude was normal. At least for vampires it was. He ruefully acknowledged that he had held such callousness in the past, before meeting Charlotte. But, she was dead. The softness she had discovered and refined in Meier had no place here. Meier was careful to show no sign of his turmoil as he responded to the Vampire King.

"No, she was not permitted to revive."

"Indeed? Tell me what happened in detail!" Dracula commanded. "Ah, I forget my manners. Let us away from this charnel chamber and seek refreshment. You have not yet eaten since arriving here, yes?"

Seeing no option that would not risk enraging his host, Meier permitted himself to be lead from the chamber. Garbing his heart in an armor of emotionlessness so as to preserve his existence during the continued interview with Dracula, Meier allowed himself the fantasy that he left the most important part of himself, his heart, mourning at the Charlotte's side.

--------

"That woman was ever a thorn in my side," Dracula stated coldly, as he reached for the carafe to pour more wine for himself. He tipped the carafe toward Meier's glass, offering silently to top it off. Meier nodded.

He'd learned much in his continued discussion with the Lord of All Vampires.

"She drove me crazy, Carmilla did. We vampires, by our nature, are not a particularly nice lot, not to each other and especially not to humans; but her level of cruelty was staggering in its depravity. I knew that she was more than taking her toll of the humans around her castle, but it was not until the outcry against her from other vampires became too great that I was able to act."

"What would have stopped you, lord?" Meier asked, curious as to what could have stayed the powerful Vampire King's hand.

"Come, now." Dracula's blue-gray eyes pinned Meier's gaze sardonically. "How long would I be able to maintain power and control over vampires if I slaughtered my own people so easily? In some ways I am the least free vampire of all." Dracula's gaze became pensive.

"Still, I must congratulate you. Carmilla was formidable those many years ago when I took her vampire life from her and pinned her in her coffin. From all the trouble she evidently caused you, it seems as if the passing of time did not diminish her power at all. I recall I had to sacrifice a powerful sword to keep her dead."

Meier had only had eyes for Charlotte's pitifully crumpled form when he had invaded Carmilla's room of repose. Still, in the desperation of trying to get Charlotte away from the blood revenant Carmilla had become, he had noticed the gleaming of a sword discarded on the floor, as a weapon could have helped him if Carmilla's power proved too much for him. He closed his eyes.

"The hilt was the body, the crosspieces its outstretched wings and the blade bore the balefulvisage of a fierce dragon all wrought marvelously in a gleaming gold metal," Meier claimed softly.

"Ah! So you did see it!" Dracula seemed pleased. "That was my second-favorite dragon sword. Good to know it survived whatever Carmilla did to free herself. What weapon did you use to finally deal her a permanent deathblow?"

Meier shook his head. He held no illusions about himself. He knew that the final deathblow to take down one as powerful as Carmilla was beyond him to deliver alone. "There was another..." he began.

"Another? Another what?"

"Carmilla's revenant, as powerful as it was, was only her body. Something had interrupted her from bonding body and soul together in her bloody, reviving ritual. Rather, someone. I only slew her revenant, the body that she had tried to revive with my Charlotte's blood. Another dealt the killing blow to her spirit."

"Really?" Dracula leaned forward, steepling his fingers in his interest.

"I couldn't protect her and I couldn't even avenge her death!" Meier's face was bleak admitting the failure he was certain would haunt him all his eternal days. "It was D, with that sword of his," Meier reached up and rubbed his left shoulder where it ached in memory of being pierced by that same sword, "who dealt the final death to Carmilla."

"D?" Dracula breathed. "You met D?"

------------------

Author's notes:

This seems as good a place as any to put in a chapter break. I apologize for the long hiatus. This year has been particularly difficult on me, bringing a personal tragedy that I'm still trying to deal with. However, I'm trying to bring the bits and pieces of my life back into some semblance of order, and writing (and posting) is certainly a part of that!

Now, as for the story, I have had a chance to read the two Hideyuki Kikuchi Vampire Hunter D books that have been translated so far. There are already elements of this story that are contrary to the canon revealed in the novels, so, please understand that I will have to adhere to only the canon as seen in the movies for this story.

Next chapter teaser – Chapter Four – Crossing Over (title may be changed)

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!

stargarde (at) stargarde (dot) com


	5. Margins

**Chapter Four - Margins**

Dracula ran his finger gently along the scar marring the left side of Meier's upper chest.

"He missed everything vital. He even threaded his stroke between the muscles with minimal damage," Meier admitted. "The only part that didn't heal completely was the skin."

Dracula smiled, pleased with the skill of his son, before releasing the collar to permit Meier to cover the scar again. "So, D targets only those vampires who aren't following the Rule."

"He targets those vampires the humans are willing to pay bounties for," Meier corrected carefully.

"It is the same thing. I warned them, that fate was surging in the humans' favor. Mutual, peaceful co-existence or inexorable extinction are the only two possibilities." Dracula looked deep into his own memories. "There was a time when the humans held an intriguing concept -- Mutual Assured Destruction. It was a way to maintain an uneasy truce between more or less balanced forces. Unfortunately, as vampires need humans to feed upon -- and the humans know it -- MAD has never applied to this situation."

Meier knew of the synthetic blood that vampires had developed, as a way to eliminate their dependency upon dangerously unpredictable humans for food. He'd tasted it. While it would serve him nutritionally, the stuff was vile. As with all vampires, imagining an immortal life feeding upon nothing but synthetic blood was a pretty convincing vision of hell to be avoided at all costs. Even in their decline, the vampires would never seek to kill off all humans, if for no other reason than to avoid relying on the nasty synthetic blood for food.

Meier's gaze fell upon Charlotte, again. Then, there was this. He'd never thought of Charlotte as 'food'. He loved her and wanted to be with her. Perhaps they were too close to each other at the top of their respective food chains -- humans and vampires. Except for the vampires' need for human blood, weren't they really two separate species of intelligent life that could communicate, and interact with each other -- fall in love with each other? Meier rued the prejudice that ran through both his and Charlotte's people on the planet below, that had made their desperate attempt to come here the only alternative. If not for that...

Charlotte would never have been caught up in Carmilla's mad attempt to resurrect herself. Charlotte's blood would not have been drained from her to invigorate ancient vampire bones. Charlotte would not have died.

If only...

If only the surface had been like here -- the City of the Night. If only Meier and Charlotte had been able to come here, where their love would have been understood, before she'd died.

Dracula continued. "Vampires have pushed humanity into the corner. It is not at all surprising that humanity turns, snarls, and pushes back. There will come a time when the vampires that prey on humans too much are gone. D will see to that. At that point, it is in the humans' hands. Will they press him, and themselves, to rid the world entirely of vampires? Will D have become such a mindless killing machine to kill vampires who have done nothing against the Rule? Or, will a shred of mercy show itself, permitting a co-existence between humans and vampires to develop on the surface below? Will some humans see the value in vampires, realize that -- except for our need for their blood -- there is no logical reason we cannot exist together, that is -- if the savage element among the vampires is fully eliminated. You, yourself, know that bloodlust can be sublimated. We need human blood to survive. We do not need human life to do so. That is the different between our blood-thirst, here, which is a natural part of vampire physiology, and the bloodlust found on the surface below, which is not."

Meier felt the beginning of a glimmer of understanding, almost as if he caught a glimpse of the corner of some grand master plan, before Ramica entered the room.

"Your pardon, my lord, but there is an urgent matter requiring your attention."

"What is it?"

"A matter of _those_ auctions -- one affecting this House," Ramica replied, darting a glance toward Meier.

Dracula waved an airy hand toward the other vampire. "You make speak plainly before him."

"Very well, my lord. There is to be an illegal auction this cycle. It is rumored that House Cravenleigh is in such dire need that there will be humans available this auction."

"Mesnard can take care of it, if you will inform..."

"There is one further matter," Ramica interrupted softly.

Dracula lifted an elegant eyebrow in a 'go ahead' gesture.

"The Tribute you released five years ago is one of the humans to be auctioned."

Dracula closed his eyes. He could see her in his memory. Carefully dressed in white, as if for a wedding, or her own funeral; her dark hair softly pulled back from her face to cascade in waves just skimming past her high cheekbones to curl with innocent artifice just below her breasts; a lively spark of intellect and curiosity warring with the wariness in her eyes when he'd met her -- oh, yes, he remembered the Tribute he'd released.

He knew she was often to be found prowling the barren hillside guarding the approach to his castle from the wilderness side. He'd told his people to let her be when they'd first reported her. He knew she was no threat to him or any who dwelled in his castle.

He regretted that he leaned so heavily into his aura when he visited her family, so heavily that the girl had fallen so deeply under his spell, but it had been necessary. He had to release her, and her house, from the burden of Tribute -- and as such a thing had never happened before, he had to do it himself. To maintain the mystique of an encounter with 'the Lord of All Vampires' he had to thrall everyone who was there. Her close proximity to him, her preparations to leave her family forever and go with him, and the romantic nature that had developed around the Tribute Day Ceremony itself, only served to bespell the poor human girl thoroughly into a state of being 'in love' with him. He was chagrined that his attempt to release her from the senseless fate of being a many-times-over redundant Tribute had only woven a new, different useless fate for her. If there had been some way to undo the effect his aura had had on her, he would have done it, to free her from her torment.

"Samantha," he sighed heavily. "They've taken her? Are you certain?"

"Yes. The sentries have not seen her for the past two days. She is being 'advertised' as a most desirable 'acquisition' -- a Tribute human groomed for House Dracula that has never been blooded. The amount of money she is expected to bring is enough to buy and sell some of the lesser Houses."

Dracula raised a weary-seeming hand to his brow. "What a mess! So, if Mesnard goes in with the City Guards, it will most likely stop the auction, but Samantha will be spirited away, undoubtedly to be part of whatever auctions they manage to put together that we never find out about," he surmised.

"Yes, my lord."

"Very well. Tell me where this infernal auction is to take place."

"No, my lord."

Meier turned his head sharply at Ramica's denial, wondering how Dracula would take it.

"No?"

"No. You must not be troubled by such sordid happenings, my lord. If it is your will, I shall take care of this myself. House Dracula doesn't need to trouble its lord to look after its own."

Dracula smiled. "And you consider this released Tribute human as part of House Dracula?"

Ramica bristled, but held her tongue.

"Very well, I will leave it in your hands. But," Dracula considered Meier closely, "take this one with you."

"I don't need...!"

Dracula stood, swept across the room and laid an affectionate hand upon Ramica's cheek. "You are quite skilled, my dear, and your concern for the appearances of our House touches me. Still, if a roomful of of vampires should become -- upset -- that you are ruining their business venture, I would like for you to have more than just the Guard at your side. Especially as I can tell you plan to enter the auction without them."

"How -- how did you...?!"

Dracula smiled down at her. "I just know how you are, my hot-headed dear. I've become rather fond of you." The Vampire Lord looked up, over her head, and matched gazes with the City's newly-arrived vampire. "Go with Ramica. Keep her safe, and bring her safely back to me."

Dracula was satisfied that the young vampire did as he commanded and left the room with Ramica. It would not do for Meier to waste his life brooding over Charlotte, any more than it suited Samantha to waste her life brooding over him.

"Emotions, human and vampire, have always caused problems, I'm afraid," he said aloud, twisting Charlotte's ringlets around a gentle finger.

* * *

Author's Notes

I've struggled for quite a while with this chapter. I've been more or less happy with this part of it for a long time, but the second part was too weak. So, I finally decided to split them into two separate chapters. I hate writing weak work, but I don't think there's any way I can get around it (so sorry for my lack of skill!) so I'll just isolate that part that doesn't satisfy me into its own chapter, and hope it doesn't bother you too much. I apologize for the long wait for this chapter.

Next chapter teaser – Chapter Five – Crosses

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!

stargarde (at) yahoo (dot) com


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